Poll workers ready for the big day

Published: Tuesday, November 6, 2012 at 09:43 AM.

Wright said poll workers are ready to deal with any glitches, but he doesn’t anticipate any problems.

“We expect a record turnout with everything running smooth,” he said.

Sweeney said it’s harder to read elections than it has been in the past when he could almost always predict winners.

Konarski said she has sensed a difference in voters with this year’s election.

“The way I look at it, they seem very adamant one way or the other, there’s no in-between, and for all different reasons,” she said. But how people vote isn’t what brings her out to work the polls.

She said she strives to keep voters informed and wants them to get through the voting process as smoothly as possible.

Over the past 20 years, Konarski said she has also seen a bit of a transition in the voter population in the precinct. While the Cedar Point/Cape Carteret area has traditionally been an area popular with retirees, more and more younger families have moved into the area as it has grown.

Like Olympic athletes who spend years training for their big event, poll workers are geared up for their big day today.

Election Day during a presidential election means a very long day for poll workers, but they like to see the voters out in force.

“It is good (to see people voting). That’s what our guys are over there fighting for, the right to choose they way we live,” said Pat Konarski, chief judge for the Cedar Point/Cape Carteret precinct.

Konarski has been working the polls in CarteretCounty since 1991, and it’s always the presidential elections that draw the big crowds.

“With the state and municipal races if there’s a hot race we get a lot of people; but, usually, if we’re having a presidential election, that really draws them in,” she said.

Ed Sweeney has been working the polls since the late 1960s. Back then the ballots had to be counted by hand.

“We’ve come a long way since then,” he said. “We have one of the most foolproof systems in the state now.”

Sweeney has seen it all from punch cards to bar codes, and thinks the scan machines the county uses now are the best method.

He expects 1,500 voters at the Jacksonville precinct where he has been chief poll judge for several years.

Ernie Wright, a Jacksonville lawyer who serves as the chairman of the Onslow County Board of Elections, signed up for the job to get a better idea of how the process works.

“I’ve been running for office for 20 years,” he said. “I’ve run for county commissioner five times, but never been on the inside.”

Wright said he joined the Board of Elections to see how things are done from the inside out. He said he has learned a lot about the election process.

OnslowCounty poll workers have had a lot of training and preparation and will be accommodating and professional with voters, Wright said.

“Some voters may need some instruction and some just need to get in and out, and we are going to meet both needs,” Wright said. “The main thing is that we will have a fair election with no hanging chad situations in OnslowCounty.”

Wright said poll workers are ready to deal with any glitches, but he doesn’t anticipate any problems.

“We expect a record turnout with everything running smooth,” he said.

Sweeney said it’s harder to read elections than it has been in the past when he could almost always predict winners.

Konarski said she has sensed a difference in voters with this year’s election.

“The way I look at it, they seem very adamant one way or the other, there’s no in-between, and for all different reasons,” she said. But how people vote isn’t what brings her out to work the polls.

She said she strives to keep voters informed and wants them to get through the voting process as smoothly as possible.

Over the past 20 years, Konarski said she has also seen a bit of a transition in the voter population in the precinct. While the Cedar Point/Cape Carteret area has traditionally been an area popular with retirees, more and more younger families have moved into the area as it has grown.

And she is seeing them coming out to vote.

“We need the younger people involved,” Konarski said. “It’s their world next.”